Traffic safety campaigns like the "move over" law have no factual basis.

High-profile traffic safety campaigns are being mounted at the state and federal levels against behavior that rarely causes the most serious types of accidents. In the past several years, lawmakers have enacted measures designed to increase the punishments for driving past stopped school buses in the name of protecting children. They have also enacted "move over" laws to stop police officers from being killed at the roadside. Statistics released this month by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicate that accidents involving either situation are exceedingly rare.

Forty-nine states impose similarly stiff penalties for passing a police vehicle stopped on the side of the road without first changing lanes. These so-called "move over" laws were adopted in the name of saving the lives of law enforcement officers, but according to the NHTSA analysis, "Characteristics of Law Enforcement Officers' Fatalities in Motor Vehicle Crashes," there were only 16 accidents involving police officers stopped in a traffic lane from 1982 to 2008 (view report, 650k PDF). In fact, of all types of collisions involving a law enforcement vehicle striking or being struck by another car, there were 15 police driver fatalities in 2009, according to the latest edition of NHTSA's "Traffic Safety Facts." This represents 0.05 percent of all traffic fatalities.

Out of the 30,797 fatalities in 2009, 21 involved a school bus and people walking nearby. Of these, however, 13 were caused by the bus driver slamming into the pedestrians -- including 7 children under the age of fifteen. Motorists were the cause in only 8 fatal accidents, or 0.0026 percent of motor vehicle fatalities. Despite the risk level, states have ramped up the penalties for passing a stopped school bus. West Virginia authorized private companies to use photo enforcement cameras on school buses last year in the name of saving children from this type of accident. Other states like Virginia impose a penalty of up to $2500.



Links: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811402EE.pdf
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/33/3382.asp